In a simpler time all a child or an adult needed to enjoy the outdoors was a ball and a stick. Or maybe an old tire tied to a high branch to fashion a swing. And the only instruction given to children was to “be home before dark”. Now there are iPads and computers and television screens and shrinking safe public spaces. But despite the distractions and limitations of space, these images show the charm of kicking a ball or skipping rope endures. Sometimes with modifications as a nod to changing times. Here: in this Saturday, June 20, 2015 photo, a boy runs while playing with a motorcycle wheel in Samugari, Ayacucho, Peru. (Photo by Rodrigo Abd/AP Photo)

In this photo provided by the Florida Keys News Bureau, female impersonator Gary Marion, known as “Sushi”, sits in a large replica of a women's high-heel shoe while dangling above Duval Street, late Tuesday, December 31, 2019, in Key West, Fla. The Red Shoe Drop is one of six offbeat Key West warm-weather takeoffs on New York City's Times Square “ball drop” set to celebrate the beginning of 2020. (Photo by Andy Newman/Florida Keys News Bureau via AP Photo)

Revelers celebrate New Years Eve in socially distanced pods at Times Square on December 31, 2020, in New York City. On average, about one million revelers are drawn to the Crossroads of the World to watch performances and celebrate the New Year. This year a limited live audience of about 40 first responders and essential workers will be allowed to watch the New Years' ball drop from a secure area in Times Square. (Photo by David Dee Delgado/Getty Images)

Boca Juniors' Paraguayan defender Bruno Valdez (bottom) and Nacional's forward Bruno Damiani fight for the ball during the Copa Libertadores round of 16 second leg football match between Argentina's Boca Juniors and Uruguay's Nacional, at La Bombonera stadium in Buenos Aires, on August 9, 2023. (Photo by Juan Mabromata/AFP Photo)

Sorana Cirstea of Romania hits the ball against Jie Zheng if China during the Sony Ericsson Open at Crandon Park Tennis Center on March 22, 2011 in Key Biscayne, Florida.

Crowds Gather For New Year's Ball Drop In Times Square on December 31, 2011 in New York City. (Photo by Michael Loccisano/Getty Images)

The Komodo National Park is a national park in Indonesia located within the Lesser Sunda Islands in the border region between the provinces of East Nusa Tenggara and West Nusa Tenggara. The park includes the three larger islands Komodo, Padar and Rinca, and 26 smaller ones, with a total area of 1,733 km² (603 km² of it land). The national park was founded in 1980 to protect the Komodo dragon, the world's largest lizard. Later it was dedicated to protecting other species, including marine species. In 1991 the national park was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site and later as Man and Biosphere Reserve.

A fire-eater of the “Diables de Terrassa” performs during Sitges' little “Festa Major”, “Santa Tecla” in Sitges, Spain on September 19, 2016. This celebration brings together some of Catalonia’s most emblematic festive traditions. The central axis of the celebrations is the traditional parade, made up of “big-head” carnival figures and characters who dance to music played on different traditional instruments. One of the most popular events is the Correfoc or fire-running, which is also the closing event of the fiesta. The people run and jump over characters dressed up as devils and dragons, carrying fire. (Photo by Matthias Oesterle/ZUMA Press/Splash News)